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You might find that chicken breast really hard to eat. You will probably find that chicken thighs are a lot easier.Make sure you choose nice moist cooking methods as dry food such as grilled chicken breast can cause you lots of discomfort. I buy food in packs and generally cook the whole pack - I serve my Dh,DS and DD bigger portions than me and if there is any food leftover it either goes in the fridge for the next day, or on DSs sandwiches for school or if it is a lot I might freeze it.

I have to laugh because when I was in the preop stage one of the things my nutritionist said was that if I was for example out shopping it didn't matter what I decided to eat, that I could get a slice of pizza from the food court if I wanted. I was going to be eating a lot less and 1 slice of pizza would not be a dietbreaker. Maybe I'm lucky to have a nut that was "honest" and is not going to send out the hitman

Who on earth told you that flights should be 4 hours or less? Whoever it was that is utter nonsense. Flying with a properly filled band is not an issue. Saline does not expand in the air - on the other hand if your band is empty the air in it can expand and is more likely to cause problems. I have flown long distance a number of times since I have been banded and have not had any issues. And by long distance I mean trips that consist of 3 flights over 24hrs with a total of approx 16 hours flying time. If you are concerned the best things to remember are. Stay hydrated (drink Water not alcohol) Stick to softer foods - you don't want to start sliming on a plane as the toilets would not be the best place to have to bring it up and you would go through a lot of airsick bags. Take your own drinks/snacks if you prefer and the airline allows it. Order a special diet (e.g soup) before you fly. If your band does feel tighter than usual then it should resolve when you land. Relax the band is not going to explode. However I cannot guarantee the same for breast implants if you have those! I have heard horror stories where people have had a deflated implant after their flight! I would take out travel insurance that covers your band as you want to be safe rather than sorry if for some reason you get stuck and need an emergency unfill. Plus it is always good to have cover in case your cases go on holiday to a different destination to where you are going! Hope you have a wonderful holiday. Just relax and enjoy it.

I'm obviously crazy as I weigh myself everyday! It helps to keep me honest. I have a range that I am happy with but if I go over that I need to do something. At least this way I have an idea of where I am at. If I only weighed once a week or once a month or at the Dr's it would be so much harder to get any gain under control as it would likely be so much more. At the moment my weight is a fraction over my comfort no of 51kg so I know that I have to stick to the rules properly. It is not something that would show up in my clothes until I was probably 2 - 3 kg overweight and when you are as vertically challenged as I am losing even those small amounts is really hard!

Think I may have to get some!

Liver is generally very dry, the only way I can imagine it being soft is if it has been made into pate and that is generally high in fat.

Good news on the hysterectomy - I had one last year and it is fantastic. It is amazing how different you feel when you are not suffering from heavy blood loss that can last up to 2 months at a time. Sorry that you are unfilled. I never had any Fluid taken out for surgery and came through fine (except they kept bringing me sandwiches in hospital as that was their definition of a light diet so I got really hungry). You may not be able to exercise after surgery but there is nothing to stop you walking. That is really good for you and doesn't strain or endanger anything. Take up a hobby. The last thing that you want to do if you are lying around the house feeling sorry for yourself is eat so it is best to do something that keeps your hands busy. Sew, scrap,knit,paint whatever. You are soon going to be feeling great.

Sorry that you went through this. It does sound as though your band eroded which is listed as a possible complication of the band.The fact that you never had a fill and kept getting constantly tighter makes me wonder if the problem was with the initial placement of the band. Maybe too small a band was used or it was put on too tight or in the wrong position. Unfortunately you will never know and will always be left wondering. the good news is that you came through this and are Ok.

My BMI was 32 and I would do it again in a heartbeat. For those of you that are bigger 32 may not sound much but at only 5' I looked like the pilsbury dough boy. I carried all my weight around my stomach and it was awful. I struggled to buy clothes as if they did up around my middle they were way too big everywhere else. To me it is better to try to sort out a problem sooner rather than later. Everybody that gets to a BMI of 40+ had a BMI of 32 at some point. They never managed to lose the weight and keep it off by themselves so why should you have to wait to do something positive about your health. I did have high BP but I still do in spite of the weightloss so mine was obviously not caused by excess weight.

This should be setting off alarm bells. You say you already have restriction but you are having a fill every 3 weeks. WHY? You have admitted that your mind is not in the right place and you are deliberately setting yourself up for failure by not following the rules by drinking with food. What do you think more fills will do? How do you think they will help? If you continue to push the food through then the band will not work the way it should. But what will happen if you continue the way you are is that you will end up too tight, you won't be able to eat proper food, you will exist on sliders which will not fill you up and will contribute to weight gain and you risk a slip, erosion and serious reflux. Does your Dr know what you are doing? If not then it is time to be honest. The band won't work if you refuse to work with it.

I think you should take pity on me. I only work casually - normally about 4 days a month. How am I supposed to keep myself away from food? With the current economic climate I don't think it's very likely that I will get much more work either!

To me it sounds as though your band is too tight. The band is not designed to work with liquids even if they are healthy like soup. Whilst you may think that is great now you could be setting yourself up for problems in the future.

Do not bake muffins when she comes home. My husband did a week or 2 after my surgery and I could have quite happily killed him.

Keep up eating well as it will make it easier after you have the band but do not let this delay deter you. You may or may not be able to lose the weight without the band but the problem as most of us know is keeping it off. I am sure that everything will be resolved soon and then you will be on the other side thinking wow have I really had my band that long already!

I suppose I should "introduce" myself! Banded June 2009. Lost 24kg (53lb) Current BMI +/- 21 Maintaing fairly easily. I am very lazy - I hate exercise. Slipping back into bad habits like eating chocolate and Cookies. I need to keep them out of the house as if they are not here I can't eat them, but this is difficult when my husband decides to bake at weekends. I also need to plan more especially if I am going shopping so that i can take something healthy with me instead of grabbing something at the food court. I have just read a really good book by Susie Burrell called "Losing the last 5kgs". Whilst I might not need to lose another 5kg the techniques and strategies that she mentions are very relevant although some need to be adapted for a bander. I don't think carrying a raw carrot with me to snack on would be a very good idea!

Thanks. A friend asked me the other day if my taste has changed as she was told by WW that after a while ( not sure how long) your tastes change and you no longer want the unhealthy foods. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP. My food of choice is still and always will be chocolate. Even if I didn't have it for 50 years I would still want it so I have no idea how long it is supposed to take for this taste change to happen. Think about it, if you had a choice between a lettuce leaf and a chocolate which would you choose?

I am sure that you have not done any damage but I am not sure that fried eggs are mushy. Mushy is stuff that is as the word says - mushy. Eggs can be hard to eat and frying them is not a good option. Apart from the unnecessary fat it also forms a skin that can be difficult to digest. You would be better off poaching your eggs and mashing them .

You won't feel full the way you did before band. Now if you eat too much you will feel discomfort in your chest. It sounds to me as though you are sabotaging your success by washing each bite down with Water. That is a big no no as it means that you will be able to eat more than you should. Make sure that you are taking small bites, chewing properly and waiting in between before you take the next bite. If you can eat solid foods this way you should be fine. If you can't then you may be a little too tight. As to the discomfort that is probably normal. Eating when you have restriction feels a lot different to preband. Whilst it shouldn't hurt it does feel a lot different but that is good as it should make you more aware of each bite.

I'd love to join you but I have to wait a while. See you on 2 June.

You say you do have restriction and you do eat less but it may not be about the quantity. It may be what you are eating that is stopping you from losing. Also even though you are eating less your less may still be more than is required for you to achieve weight loss. You need to look at all the parts of the equation to figure it out:- What you are eating, how much you are eating, how often you are eating, how much you are moving.

I am beginning to wonder if my husband has been replaced by an alien. He certainly doesn't seem to have paid much attention to what I can/can't eat . Now if i was new to this then it wouldn't be a problem but I have been banded 3 years in June. So let me explain. I worked today, hubby didn't. Generally when this happens he will cook dinner.I got home from work at about 5pm and he was cooking chocolate chip muffins. Not a major problem except that lately is seems that every chance he has he cooks some kind of cake or dessert. He obviously knows that I have a weight issue but lately my daughter has been struggling too. I saw that he had a jar of some kind of sauce out so asked what he was cooking. He said chicken curry. Now that sounds great - a nice curry with lots of sauce, made from nice moist thighs and with a little bit of rice = no problem. I did mention that I didn't want to eat late tonight. I was struggling with reflux last night which could have been from eating too late. He said not a problem, it wouldn't take long. So did he start cooking it? No, he then proceeded to bake 2 zucchini cakes.I understand why - we have stacks in the garden and it is 1 way of using them up. But 2 cakes on top of the huge batch of muffins????? I have no idea what time he eventually decided to start cooking dinner but at about 7.15 he comes to me and says he has a problem, the rice isn't cooking. Turns out he had put the rice in with the chicken and put the casserole in the oven. (Some type of chicken Biryani). Now generally that is a dish that takes a long time to cook and can be quite dry plus of course the proportion of rice is really high. At about 7.45 I gave up waiting and decided to eat some frozen veggie cannelloni . Not very exciting but quick and easy to eat. Hubby then apologised about the food being late and told me what he was cooking. I told him well it wasn't a problem as it was unlikely I would have been able to eat it anyway - too much rice.He then mentioned that he had used chicken breast which he knows I don't buy or eat because they are too dry. When I said that he knows I don't eat that he said yes he knows but he forgot! I know men can be a bit dim sometimes(sorry guys) but really this takes the cake. I know I should appreciate the fact that he cooked but to make a meal that was so obviously something I would struggle with and to have it ready so late(they ate at about 8.30) when I had said I wanted to eat early is so annoying. MEN. Who needs them!!!!!

What do you mean by comfortably tight?

It sounds like you are already too tight. The soft mushy foods that you are eating won't fill you up, you will get hungry and you will put on weight. The band is designed to work most effectively when you eat solid protein, veg and healthy carbs. If you can't eat these you are too tight.

I have a similar situation. I was banded in June 2009. My last fill was in Aug 2011. I am not tight. I can eat practically anything. In fact at the moment I would love a topup as I am getting hungry way sooner than I should. Probably about a month before Christmas I started having issues with a sore throat and sometimes at night I woke up feeling like I couldn't swallow. Now my throat has always been my weak spot and i never considered that this could be reflux. However years ago 1 Dr said that maybe it was and he prescribed Nexium. I took them for a while but they didn't make any difference so i decided he was wrong and gave up. Not long after i got my band these symptoms returned. I spoke to the fill Dr and she said it was probably just a sore throat. It cleared up again but over the last few months seems to be becoming an issue. Since joining this site I am much more aware and now believe that my sore throat is possibly a result of reflux( the other possibility is post nasal drip but i don't really suffer with allergies). On a couple of occasions I have tasted the sour stuff in the back of my throat at night and or woken up coughing. I am back on Nexium but they don't seem to be making a huge difference. I saw my Dr in Jan hoping for a fill and telling him my fears about a slip. He does not think I have a slip because I do not have issues eating or drinking. He also told me that I would probably have other symptoms with a slip e.g left shoulder pain. He decided not to give me a fill and I am scheduled to see him in June although if it gets worse I will need to see him sooner and he will do xrays etc. I am trying to be more aware of what and when I eat. I do not eat citrus fruits, have onions and garlic but only in small quantities. I don't eat tomatoes very often but do eat tomato based sauces which I don't want to give up. We typically eat late as my husband only gets home at about 7pm. I am trying to eat earlier if possible but do not want to eat seperately from the rest of the family. I sometimes drink milk before bed but I am not sure if this helps or makes it worse. Friday was quite bad. We ate at about 6pm. I had salad and half a chicken sausage. I didn't feel stuck but got very uncomfortable afterwards. Not sure if it was the stalks on the spinach or the skin on the sausage. Went to bed at about 11.30 and had to get up again as i felt like I was choking. Hoping that was a one off and that I can sort this out by being more aware of what I am doing. The other weird thing is that my band does seem to have tightened up. I have never had a problem eating in the morning but atm my first cup of tea feels weird going down. I am having a shake for Breakfast instead of food which i hate as then I am hungry again 2 hours later. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything is Ok - for me and you.

I still don't see how an artificially manufactured protein powder could be considered a better choice than red meat!